The Truth About Scarlet Runner Beans
The annual winter chore of cleaning file drawers is underway. I’m sifting through and tossing out folders and more folders of important gardening articles and other miscellaneous items. As I run across tidbits of gardening wisdom, I’ll pass them along.
First off, let’s talk about scarlet runner beans. Are they poisonous? No. On the contrary. These tasty, dark green beans (phaseolus coccineus) are quite edible, although that’s not the reason I raise them. I grow them for their large, bright scarlet flowers that cascade down bean towers. These sentries add colorful character to the vegetable garden.
It’s the castor bean that’s poisonous. This handsome plant is tempting to grow, but the seeds are highly toxic. They contain a poison called ricin. If you want to raise this plant, place it where children will not be tempted to eat the beans.
Has this ever happened at your house? Dinner guests are seated around the table. You’re about to pass the fresh broccoli salad and just in time you spot a green inchworm scaling the inside of the salad bowl.
Have you ever harvested a bowl full of spinach, beet greens or chard only to toss out three-quarters of it all because of the voracious feeding of a group of little worms called leaf miners? A family of leaf miners can turn healthy, edible leaves into inedible, brown parchment in short order.
Controlling these moochers - inchworms and miners - can be as simple as using a floating row cover. These lightweight, fine-mesh fabrics allow light and air to filter into the plants while keeping insects out.
Simply drape the cover over a framework made of flexible -inch PVC pipe and anchor the cover to the soil. If you don’t use a framework, but simply lay the material over the tops of the transplants, make sure to leave enough slack in the material so that the plants can continue to grow under it.
The material is anchored to the ground for obvious reasons: to keep the bugs out. This task can be handled by either burying a few inches of the material in the ground or by placing long strips of rebar or boards atop the edge of the material.
Crops like broccoli, cabbage, beets, carrots, chard and spinach don’t require pollination, so we don’t have to be concerned about bees getting to the plants.
If you don’t feel comfortable watering through the material, just make sure you get the covering back in place as quickly as possible after watering. It takes but one scout to alert the rest of the pack that there is fresh pickings’ in the area.
Floating row covers are available at most nurseries and garden centers.
Mark your calendar
The Inland Empire Gardeners of Spokane will host an evening with renowned garden photographer Jerry Pavia on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook. The event is free. This is a chance of a lifetime to see Pavia’s slides taken in gardens throughout the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland and France.
Pavia’s photos illustrate the books “The Garden Problem Solver: 101 Solutions To Common Landscaping Problems” “Creating A Garden For the Senses” and the “National Wildlife Federation’s Guide to Gardening for Wildlife,” as well as a number of other outstanding books and garden magazines.
The Kootenai County Extension Service in Coeur d’Alene, 106 E. Dalton, continues its horticulture series with workshops on Landscaping for Fire Protection on Monday and Vegetable Gardens for Northern Climates on March 6. The fee for each class is $5. Please register by calling (208) 667-6426.